Women were expected to help promote the values of republicanism; as intimate and concerned observers of young children, they had a special role in raising the next generation to value patriotism and to sacrifice their own needs for the greater good of the country. Because of this special role, women were permitted to receive more of an education than they previously had been allowed. Abigail Adams advocated for women’s education, as demonstrated in many of her letters to her husband, President John Adams.
Republican Motherhood differed from other contemporary beliefs, such as those of Mary Wollstonecraft, which advocated for a more public role for women.
